Successful Schizophrenia Links

Some links to progressive mental health web presences.

These site links are provided as a additional resources to our visitors. We do not imply an endorsement of these sites and assume no responsibility nor give any guarantees, warranties, or representations, implied or otherwise, for their content or accuracy.

Top Picks:

"Peter R. Breggin, M.D. founded The International Center for the Study of
Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP) as a nonprofit research and
educational network concerned with the impact of mental health theory
and practices upon individual well-being, personal freedom, and family
and community values."

Brought to you by the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights. "The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights, a non-profit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization, has a mission to bring fairness and reason into the administration of legal aspects of the mental health system, particularly unwarranted court ordered psychiatric drugging."

Create a Community:

An Online community bulletin board described as: "Psychological problems, we all grapple with them at one time or another. Here you'll find creative support, slightly snotty friendship and old-school scholarship for any manner of bio-psycho-social disturbance that reprise the human condition."

"A matching service for adults with mental illness: "We are a welcoming community that understands the trials and pitfalls of managing a mental illness. Find friends or seek romantic relationships knowing that everyone on this site has some form of mental illness."

"The Antipsychiatry Coalition is a nonprofit volunteer organization consisting of people who feel we have been harmed by psychiatry--and their supporters." Make sure you don't miss the great article by Lawrence Stephens, J.D. "Schizophrenia: A nonexistent disease" that is posted at the Antipsychiatry Coalition site.

"Founded in 1986 this magazine is still in the forefront of the struggle for democracy and inclusion. The quarterly serves as a growing forum for those fighting for positive change and a paradigm shift in mental health and the lives of communities."

"The Change Project is dedicated to using the power of the turbulence around us to help build a world that works. We are an independent organization supported solely by our writing, speaking, and consulting."

Created by Duke University, "The NRC-PAD provides consumers with mental illness, their family members, clinicians, and policy-makers with key information about Psychiatric Advance Directives (PAD), including PAD forms, links to statutes, educational webcasts, discussion forums, FAQs, and current research. PADs detail specific instructions or preferences regarding future mental health treatment, in preparation for the possibility that the person may lose capacity to give or withhold informed consent to treatment during acute episodes of psychiatric illness"

"The central aim of this site is to help educate interested lay public about the basic assumptions, principles, organizing concepts and methods utilized by psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in helping people create order out of their inner chaos." Brought to you by Gibbs A. Williams, Ph.D.

"HAMR is a self-help system that enables you to install positive thinking patterns into your brain. It is fast, easy and reliable. By adopting good thinking habits you can achieve high self esteem, powerful self confidence, and forceful motivation."

"Vision: People facing significant life challenges (such as serious illness, trauma, disability, or disadvantage) are resilient and can significantly improve the healing process when they have access to knowledge, self-help resources, skilled professionals, sustaining environments, and social justice."

"The latest research on 'what works' in therapy is translated into principles for clinical practice. Follow the links on the right side of the page to update your clinical knowledge and skills. " As heard in April 2004 on NPRs This American Life (episode 263, 4/16/04) as "Hasta La Vista, Arnie" (Listen Now - real audio file, go to the First Act, after intro, about 6 min. in to show).

By Martti Paloheimo, M.D., of Finland. "The purpose of this paper is to introduce a somewhat new and unorthodox - and perhaps a slightly provocative - approach to the causes of many mental disorders, particularly in regard to anxiety neurosis." Visit the rest of the Scorpitos site, it's in Finnish and English.

In French, English, German and Spanish, this site is home to "Rebels to Forced Psychiatric Treatment," and a periodical gazette. Includes French translation of Al Siebert's article "Spontaneous Remission of Schizophrenia."

"These pages are intended as a forum for the ideas of Ronald David Laing, one of the most controversial figures of 20th Century psychology and philosophy. His writings - a beguiling mix of psychoanalysis, mysticism, existentialism and left-wing politics - make for powerful and often disturbing reading; disturbing because they so clearly demonstrate the extent to which the average human being is entrapped by the pressures of social conformity." (You may encounter difficulty connecting sometimes.)

"Listening to High Utilizers of Mental Health Services" (March 2006 - No longer available on the web. See as much bibliographical information as we have on this item below.)

A study of "high risk, high utilizing consumers" conducted by the Oregon Office of Mental Health Services has led to a shift away from "mental illness" diagnoses to a trauma explanation. Ninety-eight percent of the most frequent users of community and hospital public mental health services reported a history of mutiple exposure to severely traumatic events.

MADNESS is an electronic action and information
discussion list for people who experience moods swings, fright, voices,
and visions (People Who). They are creating an electronic
forum and distribution device for exchanging ways to change
political systems that touch People Who, and for
distributing any information and resources that might be
useful. A basic premise of science and research is also a
value of MADNESS: to share your findings with others.

"What is meant by nonduality, Mahatmi?" "It means that light and shade, long and short, black and white, can only be experienced in relation to each other; light is not independent of shade, nor black of white. There are no opposites, only relationships. " --from The Lankavatara Sutra. A resource for non-dual thinkers.

By Ruth Whalen. "My information may interest you. I am a med tech severely caffeine allergic, who, after recovering from a 25-year course of allergic toxicity that was misdiagnosed innumerous times, traced every chemical imbalance of mental illness. According to my experience and research, ongoing caffeine anaphylaxis is the primary cause of mental illness."

"People with schizophrenia, autism, and Asperger's syndrome are all being persecuted by society. This site gives the opposite view of what society tries to convey regarding mental illness." Brought to you by Per-Erik Larssen in Sweden. Read his article "Mankind Suffers from Delusions" on our site.

This is a well organized and interesting site to explore. "The pages will be a continuing effort, with its goal being that of a combined central information bureau and revolutionary declaration; a place in which individuals can not only find the information they need, but also learn to question the sacrosanct and not-properly-questioned power of the 'mental health' profession--preferably before it's able to do them any harm."

"Ron Coleman has been active in the field of mental health since 1991, when affecting his own recovery from mental illness, he used his experiences to develop his ideas for recovery centered treatment of others. Since then he has went on to write numerous books and papers on the subject and was influential in the development of the Hearing Voices Network in the UK."

The Colin A. Ross Institute was formed to further the understanding of psychological trauma and its consequences by providing educational services, research, and clinical treatment of trauma based disorders.

"Stories have power. We shape our world through our stories. Each of our stories is unique and yet speaks of themes common to all of us. Through time we will be posting accounts of exceptional human experiences. These stories range from the extraordinary - near-death experiences, mystical experiences, spiritual emergencies, ufo abductions - to those seemingly more ordinary - psychic events, synchronicities, meaningful dreams. What all these exceptional human experiences have in common is their ability to transform."

"Dedicated to supporting individuals who are committed to working on such issues as Spirituality, Awareness, Growth, and Emotional/physical well being." Message board, Chat room, quotes and words of wisdom are some of the resources here. Papers on psychotherapy experiences.

Content-oriented site with lots of useful information on it. Learn about what it takes to playfully develop the survivor personality, succeed with your home office, deal with "downsizing" and connect with others who have the same interests. You can also browse the archives of "Thriving Stories from Survivors."

An article at the Global-vision.org site written by Michael O'Callaghan that discusses how images of world destruction and renewal occur in
shamanic narratives the world over, as well as in the visions of the world's 60 million "schizophrenic" people and in the minds of ordinary folk who wonder whether we might be about to destroy the planet. This text explores the psychological meaning of this ancient symbol of transformation.

"A resource site for parents, and a challenge to the biomedical mental
health industry. There is an alternative for the millions of prescriptions
written: Ritalin for children and anti-depressants for adults."

Pages with many links:

"An alternative to formal meditation practices with a potential for family and interpersonal team-building skill development. Guidelines and resources to help you inexpensively improve your coping and awareness skills through an enjoyable activity."

Professor Dennis Fox's (curator of RadPsyNet.org) entry into critical psychology thinking. has an extensive listing of links not found directly off his home page. His speciality is psychology, law and justice.

Gregory Bateson and his wife Margaret Mead pioneered the field of visual anthropology. He later collaborated on the "double bind theory of schizophrenia," worked with dolphins in Hawaii, and helped to pioneer a brand new, co-evolutionary way of thinking. This site has a biography of him as well as links to more information about him and his thinking.

An artist using her experience with schizophrenia to inspire: "I want to make my drawings more than just illustrations of one person's struggle of this thing called schizophrenia. I want to show the energy of the Life Force: how it describes itself in the elegance of the line and the mystery of the form."

"Hello, my name is Sue Clark. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I am a former psychiatric and shock (ECT) survivor.... I want to share with you my true life experiences as a person who was tortured by the mental health system in Canada for 18 years from 1972 to 1990."

From Tessa Manning: "I just wanted to share a bit about my experience. It's about the equivalent of a novellette for length because it covers the entirety of what unfolded in that six week period of my life."

"In my life, I have had two main interests, the art of drawing comics, and studying the topic of schizophrenia, my mother having suffered from the latter. Imagine my surprise when these two seemingly divergent interests merged. I had no idea that comics (or storytelling) was related to the other."

Brought to you by Michael David Crawford. "You may be surprised to hear that I suffer from a devastating and poorly understood mental illness. I'd like to tell you what it's like to live inside my head. Read on, and I will tell you how I recovered from schizoaffective disorder - but have not been cured. I will tell you how I learned to live with mental illness every day."

Psychologist Ronald Bassman, once diagnosed and treated for schizophrenia, has recovered and now brings new hope to patients and families. Read his article which appeared in Psychology Today, February 2001, online.

"There is no else who has beaten schizophrenia and speaks so well about it and from the nondual perspective, as Spencer Perdriau. His knowledge is first-hand and his advice sound and practical." --Jerry Katz, Nonduality.com

A site with information about Elizabeth Richter's forthcoming book, Songs of the Captive: A Memoir of Alienation. "This book is a personal memoir of the nervous breakdown I experienced after graduating from Mount Holyoke College and ends on the day I left McLean Hospital approximately two years later "

Peter, who has suffered from schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders since he was a teenager, offers his music to give hope and inspiration to others who are struggling with the same illnesses.

Disclaimer: Material found on the Successful Schizophrenia website is for your information only. We are not able dispense specific advice for your situation. If you are under a doctor's care, you should talk with him or her about your mental health goals and if they are not on the same page as you, ask for a referral to a doctor or counselor who is. It may mean interviewing several. If you are on your own, you may wish to contact your local county mental health department to ask for local resources. Our site exists to show people that there are all varieties of mental states and assessments of those states; that sometimes 'mental health' is in the eye of the beholder; and that the mental health profession needs to continue to open itself up to the new paradigm ... progress is being made!